First Saturday
ST. HUBERT
Acts,
Chapter 13, Verse 43
After
the congregation had dispersed, many Jews and worshipers who were converts to Judaism
followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to remain faithful to the grace of God.
The refusal to believe
frustrates God’s
plan for his chosen people; however, no adverse judgment is made here
concerning their ultimate destiny. Again, Luke, in the words of Paul, speaks of
the priority of Israel in the plan for salvation.[1]
Paul summarizes Jesus’ mission by beginning with John
the Baptist and stresses the failure of the Jewish people to recognize him.
Yet, by grace and an act of faith, through baptism Jews can find justification
with God and salvation with Him by the second person in the trinity; the son of
God and not through the law but by grace.
For by grace you have
been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of
God—not because of works, lest any man should boast. For the Protestant, these
texts seem plain. Ephesians 2
says the salvation of the believer is past—perfect tense, passive voice in
Greek, to be more precise—which means a past completed action with present
on-going results. It’s over! And if we examine again Romans 5:1, the verb to justify is
in a simple past tense (Gr. Aorist tense). And this is in a context where St.
Paul had just told these same Romans: For if Abraham was justified by works, he
has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture
say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”
Righteousness is a synonym for justice or justification. How does it get any
clearer than that? Abraham was justified once and for all, the claim is made, when he believed.
Not only is this proof of sola fide, says the Calvinist, but it is proof that justification
is a completed transaction at the point the believer comes to Christ. The
paradigm of the life of Abraham is believed to hold indisputable proof of the
Reformed position.
The
Most Important Thing
All of this really comes down to faith without works is dead. Remember the last words of Mary in the bible “Do whatever He tells you.” All the singing and faith in the world must not drown out the love of God. Our faith if true; propels us to works of mercy and a sheer joy that celebrates life and defends life, liberty and happiness for ourselves and others.
Five consecutive Saturdays in
reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Conditions to Fulfill the First
Saturday Devotion
1. Have the intention of consoling the Immaculate Heart in a spirit of reparation.
2. Go to confession (within eight days before or after the first Saturday).
3. Receive Holy Communion.
4. Say five decades of the Holy Rosary.
5. Meditate for 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Holy Rosary with the goal of keeping Our Lady company (for example, while in church or before an image or statue of Our Lady).
Read How to Make Your First Saturday Rosary Meditation According to Sr. Lucia
Why Five Saturdays?
1. Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception
2. Blasphemies against Our Lady’s perpetual virginity
3. Blasphemies against her divine maternity, in refusing at the same time to recognize her as the Mother of men
4. Blasphemies of those who publicly seek to sow in the hearts of children, indifference or scorn or even hatred of their Immaculate Mother
5. Offenses of those who outrage Our Lady directly in her holy images
Never think that Jesus is indifferent to whether or not His mother is honored!
Late
in the eighth century, so runs the story, a hunter named Hubert, neither better
nor worse than he should have been, was tracking a stag through the forest of
the Ardennes. As he readied himself to shoot the animal with his arrow, he was
startled when the stag turned suddenly in its flight, and he saw between its
antlers a luminous cross. This experience caused Hubert to change his way of
life, and he never hunted again. Yet only a few centuries later he was known as
the patron of hunters, and is a saint greatly honored in France and Belgium.
Saint
Hubert lived a full life. He became bishop of Tongres and traveled through his huge
diocese on horseback and by boat, preaching and building churches to the glory
of God. He was the friend of the great of his day — Pepin of Heristal and
Charles Martel among them — and also of the poor. In particular his heart went
out to prisoners, and he would secretly place food for them before their
dungeon windows. As he died, he said to those about him, "Stretch the
pallium over my mouth for I am now going to give back to God the soul I
received from Him."
In
parts of France and Belgium there has long been a custom of holding stag hunts
on Saint Hubert's Day, and the hunters gather before the chase for Mass and the
blessing of men and horses and dogs. After the hunt is over, those taking part
gather for a bountiful breakfast consisting of fish, meat, salad, cheese, and
dessert. Naturally the meat is venison of some sort, and the salad may well be
one of dandelion greens.
Excerpted
from Feast Day Cookbook
Things
to Do:
·
Have
roast venison in honor of St. Hubert, patron of hunters.
Please pray for the soul of
a great priest and friend of mine who I had the pleasure of knowing while
stationed in Belgium-Father Paul Wolf as it was, he who introduced me to St.
Hubert.
The Wolff of the
Ardennes
Men are
frequently blinded by fear and as a result often harmed themselves. The grace of
God gives confidence to see the right and to stand when called. Father Paul was
called to stand and became General Patton’s guide during the “Battle of the
Bulge” while he was still a teen. Father Paul Wolff was 15 years old when he
first joined the Belgium resistance during the years of the Nazi occupation of
World War II. He was the youngest member of the Belgium resistance. Unfortunately,
he and other members of his group were captured and at 17 he was tortured,
condemned to death and imprison in the Nazi Prison in Liege, Belgium. There he
languished yet his faith would not allow him to lose all hope and the
resistance still worked to get him and the others (256) out. Part of the plan
was to get a radio to the prisoners. To do this the resistance secreted small
parts of a crystal radio inside bars of soap. Interestingly these were “Lever”
brother bars of soap and were large about the size of a brick. Father Paul
related that during the Nazi occupation not all Jews were in German prisons if
they were of use to the Nazi’s. In this case the soap bars were made by the
Lever Jews and the radio parts were easily hidden inside the soap bars. Father
Paul stated that when they received the soap, they then washed their hands raw
in wearing away the soap to get to the radio part. Then after several bars they
constructed the radio which was the Morse code type. Father Paul typed in code
in English which he spoke along with German and French the words over and over
“SOS SOS 256 prisoners in Liege prison condemned to death SOS SOS.” They hoped
someone would get the message and somehow, they would be rescued. All they had
was hope.
Father also
related that it drove the Nazi’s crazy because they intercepted the message but
never suspected it was coming from the prison. Father Paul said that in the
cell they were in there was only one barred window, but it was so high that to
look out it required a person to stand on the shoulders of a fellow prisoner.
He further relayed that they when they would see women that were friendly with
the guards coming and going, they would call them the nastiest things they
could think of calling them. Yet one day during an air raid while the guards
were hiding as deep as they could go; one of these young women (secret agent)
came and taking the heel of her shoe wrote on the pavement that during the air
raid they are going to be rescued by commandoes and they were. Father Paul
stated neither he nor the others ever lost hope.
After
his escape he went underground. He was a friend of King Leopold III. He served
as General Patton's Belgian guide during the battle of the bulge.
December 24, 1944
Father
Paul communicated to me the tale about the battle of the bulge that has not
been recorded in history. During WWII the US Army was segregated and black men
were not mixed with white men. Black men mostly served in support roles such as
transportation and as cooks, etc. During the course of the Battle of the Bulge’
Hitler sent in a special operations team to confuse and destroy the American
Army. It was composed of American NAZI’s and German’s, who spoke perfect
American slang, knew the culture, baseball stuff, etc. These Spec Ops were
equipped with American Uniforms and equipment that was captured by Gen. Rommel
from North Africa. Father Wolff was at a meeting with Gen. Patton, Bradley,
Eisenhower and the English Gen. Montgomery in Luxembourg City on the evening of
Dec. 24th, 1944. The Generals were very excited and afraid because of the
effect these NAZI spec ops were having in the warzone and due to the fact that
they had murdered many men. They did not know what to do. Patton who was a
visionary, suddenly stood up and said, I know exactly what to do. From this
time forward, nothing in the American Army will move without a black American
in the group. Patton knew there were no black NAZI’s. As a result, black units
were moved forward and integrated and as far as I know this was the first time
in American History since the Civil War. As a result, the NAZI spec ops team
was neutralized.
Sadie Hawkins
Day is an American
folk event and pseudo-holiday originated by Al Capp's classic hillbilly comic
strip Li'l Abner
(1934–1978). This inspired real-world Sadie Hawkins events, the premise of
which is that females ask males for a date or dancing.
"Read
these counsels slowly. Pause to meditate on these thoughts. They are things
that I whisper in your ear-confiding them-as a friend, as a brother, as a
father. And they are being heard by God. I won't tell you anything new. I will
only stir your memory, so that some thought will arise and strike you; and so
you will better your life and set out along ways of prayer and of Love. And in
the end you will be a more worthy soul."
111. Decorum and modesty are younger brothers of purity.
Daily Devotions
·
Spiritual Warfare
Day FOURTEEN
[2]The Collegeville Bible Commentary
[5]http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2016-11-03
[6]http://www.escrivaworks.org/book/the_way-point-1.htm
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